Work place health and wellness is focus at CHC

Monday

Feb 3, 2014 at 3:00 PM

The Daily ReporterCOLDWATER — The Community Health Center of Branch County (CHC) employees participate in a wellness program each year.The objective of the wellness program is to increase health awareness, achieve a healthier lifestyle, and decrease health care cost for the employee and CHC.Through health and nutrition education, as well as recommendations for physical activity, the CHC program emphasizes risk-factor reduction tools. In addition to the wellness program, CHC is hosting their fourth Biggest Loser contest between employees for 2014 that started Jan.10.The Biggest Loser contest consists of 13 teams with four people and no more than two men on a team. Each team member pays a $25 one-time fee to join. Every CHC participant will weigh in every Friday. If they miss a weigh-in, they pay $1, and if they gain weight, they pay $1 per pound gained that week.To promote continuous health and wellness, CHC has changed up the length of the contest to a six-month competition with prizes given out at three months and six months.The $25 fee for joining will be put into a pot. All the penalty payments will go into another pot. On April 14 half of the participation fees will be given out to the top three teams. The first place team will receive 75 percent, second place will receive 15 percent, and third place will receive 10 percent.On June 27 the remaining participation fees will be given to the top team that has lost the most percentage of body weight overall. The female and male who have lost the most percentage of body weight will split the penalty money at the end of the competition.The CHC Employee Wellness Program is just another way of getting employees involved in their health with a reward at the end. At the end of the 2013 program, CHC employees lost a total of 1,294.2 pounds.The Biggest Loser contest was part of the CHC Employee Wellness Program. The Employee Wellness Program begins Oct. 1 and runs through Sept. 30 each year and is open to all active CHC employees. The Employee Wellness Program is coordinated through CHC Employee Health Services. Employees complete an enrollment form to become a participant in the program.As participants in the program, employees earn points for healthy activities such as completing a health and fitness assessment with a certified trainer, stopping smoking for six months, attendance at a fitness center, completing an online health and fitness assessment, participate in a weight management program, and many more. The points earned from those activities are then cashed in at the end of the program year for incentives. Some of the incentives include a gym bag, t-shirt, exercise ball, hat, money toward medical premiums, a gift certificate to a fitness center or gym and cash.For more information about the program contact Jenny McDaniel, program coordinator at CHC Employee Health Services at 279-5475.